Conventional magazines with helical feed members are common. Such conventional magazines are designed primarily for use with conventional bullets and thus, most are not designed to handle delicate projectiles. Stated differently, most of these conventional magazines place relatively large forces on the projectiles contained therein and thus, must be used with durable projectiles. Such magazines are not suitable for use with air guns and pellets or paint balls which are relatively fragile. For example, some of these conventional magazines rely on gravity and pressure or a belt system to feed the projectiles into the gun. Such systems will damage more delicate projectiles such as pellets and paint balls.
Examples of these conventional magazines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 213,555 issued on Mar. 25, 1879 to Evans; 84,685 issued on Dec. 8, 1868 to Evans; 1,285,263 issued on Nov. 19, 1918 to Lohne; 3,088,378 issued on May 7, 1963 to Boudreau; 3,427,923 issued on Feb. 18, 1969 to Meyer et al.; 4,034,644 issued on Jul. 12, 1977 to Hupp et al.; 4,166,408 issued on Sep. 4, 1979 to Wetzel et al.; 4,384,508 issued on May 24, 1983 to Sullivan et al.; 4,676,137 issued on Jun. 30, 1987 to Stockton et al.; 4,738,183 issued on Apr. 19, 1988 to Miller et al.; 4,766,800 issued on Aug. 30, 1988 to Miller et al.; 4,888,898 issued on Dec. 26, 1989 to Miller et al.; 4,945,664 issued on Aug. 7, 1990 to Miller et al.; 4,947,572 issued on Aug. 14, 1990 to Miller et al.; 4,962,604 issued on Oct. 16, 1992 to Miller et al.; 4,965,951 issued on Oct. 30, 1990 to Miller et al.; and West German Patent Nos. 2,010,554 and 3,809,319.
Other magazines have been developed for use with air guns and delicate projectiles such as pellets or paint balls. However, these magazines also have several disadvantages. For example, some of them also depend on gravity to feed the projectile into the gun. Others use a complicated belt arrangement which is not practical for air gun pellets. Still others are unreliable and easily damaged.
Examples of magazines designed for use with pellets and paint balls are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,819,609 issued Apr. 11, 1989 to Tippman and 5,166,457 issued Nov. 24, 1992 to Lorenzetti.
In view of the above, it is apparent that a need exists for an improved helical indexing magazine for use with air guns and pellets or paint balls. This invention addresses this need in the art, along with other needs which will become apparent to those skilled in the art once given this disclosure.
A prior patent which addresses this need is U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,816 issued on Mar. 24, 1992 to Miller.